Rocking chair construction



Aug- .1 1969 A. KESSEL v 3.460.866

ROCKING CHAIR CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. '21. 1967 Patented Aug. 12, 1969 3,460,866 ROCKING CHAIR CONSTRUCTION Abbas Kessel, 525 S. th St., Mankato, Minn. 56001 Filed Sept. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 669,500 Int. Cl. A47c 3/029, 4/02 US. Cl. 297-258 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rocking chair construction comprising a plurality of pieces formed of interfitting, individual boards. The pieces include a back board and a seat board with an opening being formed in the back board for receiving a tongue formed on the seat board to provide the desired interfitting relationship. A pair of elliptically shaped side boards define slots for respectively receiving the back board and seat board; and the side boards function to provide the rocker and arm rest portions of the chair. A pair of rods extend between the side boards to hold the entire assembly together.

This invention relates to a rocking chair construction of the so-called knock-down variety. Thus, the chair is formed of a plurality of individual pieces which are adapted to be interfitted with each other to provide a completed assembly.

The rocking chair construction of this invention is particularly characterized by extremely low cost, ease of assembly, and an aesthetically pleasing appearance. At the same time, the construction is highly suitable from the standpoint of comfort whereby the advantages of a rocking chair can be realized.

Attempts have been made to produce inexpensive furniture; however, such furniture is usually lacking in quality and will quickly wear out. This is primarily due to the use of inferior materials and to the methods of constructing the furniture. Thus, material costs and labor costs must obviously be kept at a minimum to provide the desired low selling price.

It is a general object of this invention to provide a low cost rocking chair construction which can be made from high quality materials but which can be assembled by the purchaser whereby the cost of the chair can be kept at a minimum while still providing high quality and long life.

It is a more particular object of this invention to pro vide a rocking chair construction of the type described which accomplishes the foregoing object while also providing a highly pleasing appearance and highly satisfactory performance from the standpoint of comfort during use.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a rocking chair construction which is formed of only a few relatively simple parts whereby constructions can be packaged, sold and delivered having a. highly compact form, and whereby the purchaser can assemble the rocking chair with minimum effort.

These and other objects of this invention will appear hereinafter and for purposes of illustration but not of limitation, a specific embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a rocking chair construction characterized by the features of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan illustrating the pieces making up the rocking chair construction;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view illustrating securing means employed in the construction; and,

FIGURE 4 is a plan View illustrating the manner in which the pieces of' the construction can be packaged for shipping and handling purposes.

The rocking chair construction of this invention is preferably formed from four pieces of board comprising a back board, a seat board, and two side boards. The boards are slotted and provided with interfitting means whereby they can be put together in a few simple steps. Thereafter rods are provided for securing the assembled pieces in a permanently fashioned construction. When so-assembled, the side boards which are elliptical in shape, provide rockers while also providing arm rests. The back board and seat board will automatically be provided in the proper angular relationship due to the location of the slots formed in the side boards which receive the back board and seat board.

The accompanying drawing illustrates a specific embodiment of the invention. The rocking chair construction 10 shown in FIGURE 1 comprises a back board 12, seat board 14 and a pair of side boards 16. The side boards are elliptical in shape, and when the pieces are assembled in the manner shown, the side boards provide rockers 18 and arm rests 20.

FIGURE 2 illustrates the pieces employed for making up the construction. It will be noted that the back board 12 includes an interior slot 22. The seat board 14 defines a tongue 24 which corresponds in size with the slot 22. When the construction is assembled, this tongue 24 is inserted in the slot 22.

The lower end section 26 of the back board is narrower than the upper section 28 with the respective sections being divided in the area of the shoulders 30. Similarly, the sections 32 and 34 of the seat board 14 are divided by shoulders 36.

Each of the side boards 16 defines slots 38 and 40. As best shown in FIGURE 1, these slots provide for an interfitting relationship of the back board and seat board with the side boards. Thus, the slots 38 and 40 define bottom portions 42 and 44, respectively; and these bottom portions are engaged by the shoulders 30 and 36, respectively, when the construction is assembled. It will be appreciated that accurate cutting of the slots and accurate positioning of the shoulders will result in complete accuracy insofar as alignment is concerned when the respective pieces are assembled. Thus, there will be no skill required in order to provide the proper inclination between the back board and seat board whereby any purchaser will be able to secure a perfectly accurate arrangement.

It will be appreciated that glue or some other securing arrangement could be employed when interfitting the respective pieces of the assembly. Such techniques are, however, unsatisfactory from the standpoint of long life, and they are also somewhat tedious. The instant invention provides a much more satisfactory means for providing permanence when the construction is assembled. Specifically, a pair of rods 46 are adapted to be passed through openings 48 defined by the side boards 16. Washers 50 and cap nuts 52 and standard nuts 54 are provided so that the rods can be secured at their threaded ends 56 as shown in FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 4 illustrates one specific advantage of the construction of this invention. It will be noted that the respective pieces of the assembly can be located in a pile consisting of four thicknesses of board. The rods 46 can be inserted at the sides of the side boards 16 so that these rods will not in any way add to the dimensions of the assembly. Similarly, a small package containing the nuts and washers will not provide any difiiculties from a packaging standpoint. A carton 58 can, therefore, be provided for the pieces whereby a highly satisfactory arrangement is available from the standpoint of maintaining inventory, merchandising, shipping and handling.

In the manufacture of the pieces making up the assembly, high quality wood, particularly, high grade plywood, can be employed. The shaping of the Wood can be accomplished with only a minimum of effort by semi-skilled personnel. Since there is only a small labor charge involved for shaping the respective pieces, and a small additional cost for packaging, a high quality article will be provided at relatively low cost. This is primarily due to the fact that there need be no labor charge for assembly included in the sales price. It will be appreciated, however, that the chair could also be sold as an assembled unit.

When assembled, the chair provides definite aesthetic values. The design of the respective boards could obviously be varied, however, without in any way affecting the functional aspects of the invention. Similarly, contours could be provided in both the back boards and seat boards; however, this would obviously add to the cost. Finally, cushions could also be easily employed, either attached or unattached, and for both the seat and back portions.

It will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the above entitled construction which provide the characteristics of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

That which is claimed is:

1. A rocking chair construction comprising a plurality of individual pieces including a back board, a seat board, and a pair of side boards, means comprising a tongue and corresponding opening formed in the seat board and back board, said tongue being interfitted with said opening, a pair of slots defined by each of said side boards receiving portions of said back board and seat board, said back board, seat board and side boards each being formed from substantially solid sheets of material, the back board being essentially rectangular in shape and being dimensioned whereby the seat board and side boards can be flat on the back board within the lateral extent of the back board edges, said side boards comprising an essentially elliptical shape whereby the bottom surfaces of Said side boards define rockers for the construction and top surfaces of the side boards define arm rests for the construction, and including rod means between the respective side boards for holding said side boards together, said rod means including a first rod extending behind said back board and a second rod extending beneath said seat board, and wherein said rods define threaded ends for bolting the rods to said side boards, and wherein cap nuts are threaded onto the exterior ends of said rods.

2. A construction in accordance with claim 1 wherein the size of said tongue corresponds with the thickness of said back board whereby the outer edge of said tongue will be flush with the back surface of said back board when said tongue is received in said opening.

3. A package including the pieces of said rocking chair construction as defined in claim 1, said package comprising a substantially fiat carton having said back board, side boards and seat board lying fiat therein, with said rods located in spaces defined between said back board and seat board.

4. A rocking chair construction comprising a plurality of individual pieces including a back board, a seat board, and a pair of side boards, means comprising a tongue and corresponding opening formed .in the seat board and back board, said tongue being interfitted with said opening, said opening being defined by said back board at a point adjacent a lower end portion of the back board, and said tongues extending outwardly from an inner end portion of said seat board, slots defined by said boards receiving portions of said back board and seat board, said side boards comprising an essentially elliptical shape whereby the bottom surfaces of said side boards define rockers for the construction and top surfaces of the side boards define arm rests for the construction, and including rod means extending between the respective side boards and holding said side boards together, and wherein said lower end portion of the back board and said inner end portion of the seat board, are narrower than the remaining portions of the back board and seat board, and wherein the respective portions of said back board and seat board are divided by shoulders, said shoulders seating in said slots, and wherein said slots determine the angular relationship between said back board and said seat board, said arm rests being defined between spaced apart slots in said side boards.

5. A rocking chair construction comprising a plurality of individual pieces including a back board, a seat board, and a pair of side boards, means comprising a tongue and corresponding opening formed in the seat board and back board, said tongue being interfitted with said opening being defined by said back board at a point adjacent a lower end portion of the back board, and said tongue extending outwardly from an inner end portion of said seat board, slots defined by said side boards receiving portions of said back board and seat board, said side boards comprising an essentially elliptical shape whereby the bottom surfaces of said side boards define rockers for the construction and top surfaces of the side boards define arrn rests for the construction, and including rod means extending between the respective side boards and holding said side boards together, and wherein said lower end portion of the back board and said inner end portion of the seat board, are narrower than the remaining portions of the back board and seat board, and wherein the respective portions of said back board and seat board are divided by shoulders, said shoulders seating in said slots, and wherein the wider portions of said back board and seat board which extend beyond said shoulders exceed the width of the narrower portions by an amount corresponding with the thickness of said side boards whereby the edges of said back board and seat board are flush with the outer surfaces of said side boards when said shoulders are seated in said slots.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 693,197 2/1902 White 297-440 XR 804,958 ll/ 1905 Kohn 297258 1,747,900 2/1930 Jenny 297442 1,735,851 11/1929 Burton 297-442 2,486,987 11/1949 Scarlett 297442 2,518,955 8/ 1950 StelZer 297442 2,672,181 3/1954 Rose 297442 XR 2,723,788 11/1955 Lund 297442 XR BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner G. O. FINCH, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 297-442 

